NEW YORK (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. has formally filed a recall report with the U.S. government covering 3.8 million vehicles in seven models, including the Prius hybrid, due to the risk that a loose driver-side floor mat could jam the accelerator.

The report, filed Monday with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, also concerns the Camry sedan, the top-selling car in the United States. It is the sixth-largest recall in the United States, according to the Associated Press.

No similar floor-mat problem has been found in the same models sold in Japan, but the development may hurt Toyota's financial results.

According to Toyota, the NHTSA said it has received reports of 100 related incidents, including 17 crashes and five fatalities involving Toyota vehicles.

Detailed causes of the accidents have yet to be identified, but both Toyota and the NHTSA have called on owners of the models in question to remove the floor mat since Sept. 29, when Toyota first announced the planned recall of the 3.8 million vehicles.

The models to be affected by the recall include the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2004-2009 Prius and the 2007-2010 Lexus ES350, Toyota said.

Import sales fall

Kyodo News

Sales of new imported vehicles dived 17.7 percent in the April-September first half from a year earlier to 88,389 units, an industry body said Tuesday.

The total included 8,242 Japanese-brand cars, trucks and buses made overseas, down 27.2 percent, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said.

By vehicle category, car sales fell 16.2 percent to 83,002 units, the association said.

Volkswagen was the best-selling foreign brand in the six-month period, with sales of 18,449 vehicles, down 6.6 percent from the year before.

BMW ranked second with sales of 14,756 vehicles, down 20.9 percent, followed by Mercedes-Benz with sales of 14,086 vehicles, down 27.2 percent.

In September alone, overall sales of imported vehicles fell 14.3 percent to 20,682 units.